From an outsider's perspective, it's easy to say what should and shouldn't matter to a pop star. We note the awards, special performances and chart positions. But what matters to the star, themselves? We posed this very question to the incomparable Lady Gaga.
In this very special Spankin' New Music Week edition of "The 5," as The Fame: Monster is finally officially released, Lady Gaga takes us through the five most amazing moments in her career. It's a deeply personal list that touches on the socio-political causes that are close to her heart (marching on Washington, D.C. for gay rights) as well as the small, personal pleasure of having her little sister dress up as her for Halloween.
Watch Gaga explain her top five career highlights in this exclusive MTV Buzzworthy Blog video, and get an up-close-and-personal look at the human side of Lady Gaga.
Spankin' New Music Week is coming to MTV November 23 through 27. It's a celebration of five new mega-albums that are all being released in one big mega-week.
Lady Gaga's dropping The Fame Monster Limited Edition, which if you're sharp enough you've already heard The Fame: Monster on MTV's The Leak (a whole week early!). Rihanna's Rated R also hits on Monday and you've already seen new videos for "Russian Roulette," and "Wait Your Turn." Meanwhile, Shakira's long-awaited, hotly anticipated She Wolf album drops next week.
Beyonce has the Deluxe Edition of I Am, and on Tuesday, Britney's releasing the Deluxe Box Edition of The Singles Collection.
So what's in store? We have interviews with Gaga, Shakira and Rihanna, MTV News sat down with some of the girls as well, and we'll have performances, videos, and more. It's an unofficial "ladies week," but because we're not biased we're not forgetting that 50 Cent also recently dropped his fourth LP, Before I Self Destruct and we sat down and talked to him too.
Check in next week for more Spankin' New stuff on MTV, and, until then, watch Rihanna's "Wait Your Turn" video.
The 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show went down in New York City last night, and in case you're not familiar with the year event don't get it twisted -- the pieces modeled by famous hoofers like Heidi Klum, Miranda Kerr, Marissa Miller, and Chanel Iman aren't the stuff of Victoria's Secret mall locations. These ladies aren't showing off the polka-dotted cotton undies you stock up on at your location VS.
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which will air on CBS on December 1, is always an over-the-top celebration of gaudy glitz and glam and beyond-perfect bodies. And the annual show is a guaranteed celeb draw -- Jay-Z, Russell Simmons, Jay Sean, Keri Hilson, the Kings Of Leon, Patricia Field, Zac Posen and Christian Siriano were in attendance this year -- but this year, the show's "Star Trooper" collection seemed to have stolen its style, or at least heavily borrowed some inspiration from Lady Gaga and the Haus of Gaga. Observe, won't you?
Selita Ebanks wears a gold-spiked white bustier that looks an awful lot like the gold-spiked dress Lady Gaga wore to the Y100 Jingle Ball in December 2008. And that white bustier leotard looks just like Gaga's outfit in Beyonce's "Video Phone" video.
Hm. This bubble dress SURE looks familiar...
The Pièce de résistance!!! Gaga's Nasir Mazhar orb outfit from the "Bad Romance" video is reinvented on the Victoria's Secret catwalk!
There has probably never been a more anticipated release of an album than Lady Gaga's The Fame: Monster, which, not incidentally, is the subject of this very special edition of MTV's The Leak.
Lady Gaga's The Fame: Monster is a whole new chapter and the culmination of several months of performances (see: The 2009 MTV VMAs, the Los Angeles MOCA 30th Anniversary) and videos (see: "Bad Romance" and her "Video Phone" collabo with Beyonce) that have seen Gaga go from pop star to pop icon.
Gaga has talked about the eight new songs (which can be consumed as an add-on to The Fame or as a standalone EP) being wrought from her experiences over the last year and a half. Gaga's become an absolute supernova, and you hear reference to it in the glam and paranoia of new songs like "Bad Romance" and "Dance In The Dark."
But what you also get is a sense of increased confidence that comes when an artist knows the whole world is listening. The Fame: Monster's songs have the swagger and bravery that can only come from a musician working at the height of their powers.
The Fame: Monster isn't out until Tuesday, November 23, but MTV has the official album leak. It's totally free, and it's a total monster. There's nothing left to do now then sit back and enjoy the show.
+ Listen to Lady Gaga's The Fame: Monster now.
Throughout her prolific videography, Beyonce's given you plenty of opportunities to see her at her wildest and most wanton -- her brazen "Ring The Alarm" video, her mindblowing dance skills in "Crazy In Love," "Single Ladies," and "Get Me Bodied," and her ironclad sex appeal in her "Sweet Dreams" video, to name a few.
But you've never seen a fire like the one Beyonce causes in her brand-new "Video Phone (Extended Remix)" video, in which B's got guns -- and Gaga -- blazing. Kids, don't play with guns unless you're shooting fashion flames.
Watch Beyonce go fluorescent-futuro beast mode, show off her freaky-deaky Bettie Page side, and get in lockstep with Lady Gaga in a pair of white-hot one-pieces in "Video Phone (Extended Remix)," directed by Hype Williams, who lives up to his name, as always.
+ UPDATE: WATCH BEYONCE'S "VIDEO PHONE (EXTENDED REMIX)" VIDEO, FEATURING LADY GAGA!
Beyonce's "Video Phone (Extended Remix)" has been one of the most hotly anticipated videos this year from one of the planet's biggest divas, who pulled in one of the biggest pop-performance artists of all time to form a creative supernova. Basically, this is Planet Fashion, where females are runnin' it.
Watch a sneak preview of Beyonce's "Video Phone (Extended Remix) video" featuring Lady Gaga, directed by Hype Williams, and check back on the MTV Buzzworthy Blog and MTV.com at midnight on Tuesday, November 17 to watch the full-length video.
Lady Gaga's The Fame: Monster is still two weeks away, but that hasn't stopped the new songs attached to this re-issue of The Fame from surfacing.
We've heard "Bad Romance," "Alejandro," and "Dance In The Dark," and now comes possibly the mostly hotly anticipated track from The Fame: Monster: "Telephone," featuring Beyonce.
Now as is sometimes the case with these things, it's worth noting that this isn't officially official, though it certainly sounds certified. But it is a follow-up to Beyonce's "Video Phone (Extended Remix)," which features Gaga and will be featured on Beyonce's I Am...Sasha Fierce deluxe edition.
Both The Fame: Monster and I Am... Sasha Fierce deluxe edition are due out on November 23rd.
+ Listen to Lady Gaga's "Telephone," featuring Beyonce, here.
According to the always in-the-know peeps at MTV News, Hova and Alicia Keys are already cooking up a sequel to their smash Big Apple anthem, "Empire State Of Mind."
The track has been ubiquitous (especially for New Yorkers) since it unofficially debuted at the MTV Video Music Awards (along with that infamous Lil' Mama cameo); it gets played at least once in almost every club in the 5 boroughs on any given night, and was the unofficial theme song for the Yankees march to the World Series championship (Jay and Keys performed before Game 2, and Hov did it today at the Yankees victory parade).
But is it too soon to go back to the well? Will Jay and Alicia strike oil twice? It ain't easy. Here are a few (some good, some bad) song sequels/remakes.
Jessica Simpson's remake of "These Boots Were Made For Walkin'". Pretty much a FAIL in every conceivable way. Took Nancy Sinatra's all-time jam and turned it into a honky-tonk strip tease jingle.
"Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang is one of the all-time classics.
But Redman, Erick Sermon and the Def Squad's sequel to the track actually embraced the pass-the-mic energy in the best possible way.
We can talk all we want about sequels, but Jay-Z's been down this road before. He and Beyonce remade Tupac's "Me And My Girlfriend" as "'03 Bonnie & Clyde."
Can you think of any other dope remakes or sequels? Any not so dope ones? Let us know in the comments!
The performances at the 2009 MTV Europe Awards were like hitting "shuffle" on your iPod... except exponentially more intense. Shakira and Beyonce, Jay-Z, Leona Lewis, U2, Green Day, Foo Fighters, and Tokio Hotel -- all celebrated popular music's bounty, from U2's timeless unifier, "One," to Shakira's box-fresh "Did It Again."
Watch each and every live performance from the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards now.
Where do you go when you're Beyonce, you're an unstoppable international triple threat, you've dominated the globe, and the world at large just gave you THREE MTV Europe Music Awards? You next-level it with a scintillating performance that shows off your good-girl side, and then you get nasty too, all in the same performance. Watch both sides of Beyonce tear it down live at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin in her live performance of "Sweet Dreams." And check out the photos of Beyonce in action.
+ Watch all of the 2009 MTV Europe Music Award performances here.
